“While most teenagers (60 percent) spend an average of 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend more than 40 hours per week. week, and about 7 percent are exposed to more than 50 hours of “screen time per week” (many teens spend). Many parents agree that they would prefer that their children not see indecency on the Internet and on television, and that the government should control obscenities on the Internet. Others believe that it is the responsibility of parents to control and censor what their children watch on the Internet and on television. Censorship is the suppression of the publication of information on the Internet or television (Naik). The government only blocks content deemed unsuitable for public viewing. Censorship is only used to a certain extent in the United States of America, but it is much more widespread in other parts of the world. Many people argue that the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Therefore, fining television stations for failing to censor explicit content could be a violation of First Amendment rights (Ruschmann). Most people agree that the reason the United States survives as a democracy is because of the freedoms granted by the First Amendment. With the removal of these freedoms, the government could become too authoritarian (Ruschmann). Censorship also occurs when politicians commit crimes and feel threatened by the media. Political censorship is unfair to the public because stories about citizens can be published on the Internet and broadcast on the news, but citizens have no control over this public exposure (censorship). Although many people are against censorship, there are many benefits. to Internet and television censorship. Because...... middle of article...... television censorship is a very controversial issue in the United States because some parents believe the government should impose censors and others believe it It is the responsibility of parents to censor their children. and control their access to the media. Works Cited “Censorship”. SIRS discoverer. ProQuest, 2011. Web. February 22, 2011. “Many teenagers spend 30 hours a week in front of a screen while in high school. » Daily Science. Np, March 14, 2008. Web. March 3, 2011. .Naik, Abhijit. “Advantages and disadvantages of Internet censorship. »Buzz. Buzzle, November 25, 2010. Web. February 17, 2011. .Ruschmann, Paul. The FCC and Indecency Regulation. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print. “V-Chip Raises Free Speech Concerns. » Problems and controversies. NP, 2011. Web. February 28. 2011. .